more on trees ....

The weather having taken a turn for the better, we went to the Royal Horticultural gardens at Wisley Gardens. We spent several hours visiting such things as the Rock Garden, the Wild Garden, the Herb Garden, the small model gardens, finishing with a ramble round the rhodedendrons. I had not realised there were so many different kinds. The big ones, sure, I knew about, but there were some truly tiny ones that would not look out of place in a rockery.



But what I most enjoyed was a Japanese garden, in which I took several photos for my eldest daughter, whose birthday it coincidentally was. She now works as a gardener at a National Trust property, and one of her particular tasks is looking after their Japanese garden, so I took these photos for her.

The entrance to the garden, with the only large tree in it:


Here a forty-year old bonsai, only about three feet high!





A section with stone sculpture and a piece of naturally sculpted wood:

This, I suppose, is what most of us think of as a Japanese garden, but oh so beautifully done:

In fact, we enjoyed the day so much, we have taken a year's subscription as 'Garden Explorers', which means we get special books for my grandchildren, and can take them along any time to spot things, learn so much about gardens, and enjoy a day outdoors!! And I even managed to knit a few rows when we had a rest!

time flies when you're having fun ...

Once again I have been peripatetic, helping post-op daughter, minding grandchildren, etc. Which has left me with little time for blogging and often little access to the internet. But all of which is great fun, so no complaints.

It has not prevented me knitting, however, which is just as well, since a dear friend has just given birth to a darling daughter (a first baby), for whom I produced this surprise jacket and heart-shaped hat, also courtesy of the great Elizabeth Zimmermann. This was the first time I tried the hat, so rather experimental, but it seems to have worked out well – although I’ll have to wait for the recipient, or rather her mama and papa, to give the final verdict. Best of all, it was knitted with STASH!!! Maybe that's why I felt I could buy some new knitting books, as a reward. Unfortunately, the cost of the books was way out of proportion with the value of the yarn, particularly since I had bought loads of it for 25p. per skein in a sale (Rowan's Lightweight DK, for those who need to know)!

And now to trees! I love old and gnarled trees, and captured a really fine specimen recently whilst visiting the wonderful gardens at Kew.

This one, with its wonderfully twisted branches is not bad either. Although now, a week later, I wouldn’t mind betting that they’re both covered in foliage. Suddenly spring has sprung, blossom and leaves everywhere, a wonderful time of year.

oh dear, has it really been that long ... ??? !!!

Somehow the time has scampered past without my blogging for nearly a month! Not without my noticing, because I have certainly done that, but I have been much too busy to grab it, whether by the forelock, or the tail! Visiting grandchildren, helping my youngest daughter, who had to have a foot op. and can't drive her daughter to and from nursery. And so on and so forth.

It has often been my observation that one either has time to write and nothing to write about, because one is doing nothing much! Or, one is doing lots of interesting things which one hasn't got time to describe, because one is too busy doing them!

Knitting-wise, things are still coming on. I have finished my son's jumper, but omitted to photograph the finished product before I gave it to him, so it'll have to wait until I see him again. The Princess grows slowly, as I am still knitting the second lot of edging points. And my kimono-style jacket had to be completely ripped back because I was using too much yarn, even though I thought I had got the tension right. I have now finished the back on 3.5 mm instead of 4, and am halfway up a front.

In the meantime, spring has sprung, as I write I am looking at a beautiful forsythia in full fantastic yellow bloom in the garden next door to my daughter's. Although I like all the seasons, even winter, which I look on as a season of rest and recuperation, an indoor time to spend building up resources for the New Year, spring is undoubtedly my favourite, full of new life and hope. I should not like to live somewhere which did not have all four seasons, even if it were warmer than the British Isles. The constant variety and contrast is so delightful. Anything less would, I think, be boring.

So my 3 Beautiful Things for today are:-

the back of my Kimono-style Jacket:

the forsythia:

and these lovely celandines:

The emerald isle ....

Having a wonderful time in Killarney, in somewhat changeable weather: rain, sun and snow, sometimes all at once. Snow still covers the mountain tops, while the gorse is beginning to bloom!

The main purpose of my visit, to see the wonderful Finn, has been more than satisfactory. Once again he has cut a tooth. He has three now, and each has been cut in my presence - must be special granny magic! ;)

He loves his bath:

And his food (waiting for dough balls in a local pizza restaurant):

His nan (wearing her emerald green cap shawl) loves him:

Father and son on Torc mountain:

We walked for three hours on Torc, the weather was fair, if blustery. There were goats with kids, frogspawn in the puddles, green shoots everywhere. Water flowed, gurgled, rushed, fell all around us, the sky was mostly blue and the air like the finest champagne. So more than three beautiful things. Life itself is beautiful sometimes - we do well to remember it.

Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside ...

As I am about to rush off to Killarney to visit my youngest grandson, the adorable Finn, I thought I'd get a quick blog in about my middle two.

I spent the past weekend with my youngest daughter, Imogen, and as I had agreed to look after my grandson Luke on Sunday, he came along too.

We took him and Imogen's daughter ellie to the seaside, Worthing to be precise. We had a wonderfully typical old-fashioned English seaside Sunday. Strong tea and icecreams on the beach, whilst beachcombing:

Walking up and down the promenade, Luke pushing his own pushchair, and Ellie pushing her toy buggy with Pooh bear ensconced:

Finally fish and chips with more strong tea before driving two exhausted but happy children snoring loudly all the way back home!

I was able to get pictures of Pooh in the jacket I knitted for him, although carelessly, he had left his scarf somewhere, but did have his hat!

Less enjoyable was the realisation that my niggling tooth had morphed into raging toothache requiring almost constant ingestion of painkillers. Mindful of the potential difficulties of having dental problems abroad, I succumbed to common sense and sought an emergency appointment with my lovely dentist. Right call. He diagnosed an abcess, did all sorts of things I prefer not to dwell on to make the tooth temporarily secure and roped me for more appointments to deal with the problem thoroughly on my return. What a nice prospect, eh? Still, it could have been worse, if I hadn't seen him!

Still, I have no intention of letting it put a dampener on my lovely stay in the Emerald Isle. And I am taking knitting with me, the jumper I am knitting for my son, Finn's dad (back and front complete, halfway up the sleeves) which I intend to finish while I'm out there. Now I know that wooden and bamboo needles don't upset the security cameras, I can get loads done in-flight. Fantastic.

Mind you, I think long-suffering Peter will soon forget what I look like, I seem to be away so much. Especially since in my absence he welcomed and installed the replacement for our ailing ousted fridge, with no help at all from me!!

Off with the old:

And on with the new!!

How lucky I am to have a tolerant spouse. I love you, Peter. XXX :)

oh b**her!!!***!!!

I am typing this very a.m., for me that is, sitting in my dressing gown quietly fuming while I wait for the utility floor to dry. Why? Because our American fridge is going to that great white goods home in the sky (although actually it was a very fetching stainless steel). On Tuesday we callously went shopping, leaving it home alone, so it blew a fuse, as we discovered when we went to store said shopping in its capacious interior. We replaced the fuse, and all seemed to be well, but the freezer was quietly defrosting all the while, as I discovered when I stepped up to my ankles in water in the dim light of early evening.

So we switched it off for a rest, poor soul, and next day the fridge-mending genius came round to minister unto. Hmm. He said the something-or-other had gone, and quoted a price to repair it which I cannot repeat here, because I would have to swear, and this is a family blog!!

Now this is particularly annoying at this time, because we are hoping to move to the country, and have been nursing all our white goods, and indeed a great many other things, on the basis that 'we'll get a new one for the new house'. Of course, in the present economic climate, this could go on for a very long time. Already we are having to kidglove the dryer, which is very testy. And we have to have a dryer here, because we can't hang washing on the twelfth floor of a tower block. And it has to be a cash-eating condenser monster because we don't have an outlet - so all the more reason for not buying before we go, blah, blah, blah!

So nothing for it but to ditch the big American and buy a little Brit!! Just to tide us over, until we know what we're doing, I mean where we're going, because I don't think we ever know what we're doing. This will cost us a quarter of what it will cost to repair the US monster.

So then the saga of putting the old fridge out for collection began. Which went like this: turn off the water supply (it had an icemaker and water fountain), disconnect without drowning myself again. Push out through utility door. ???!!!??? Utility door narrower than fridge. Hmm. Right said Fred, have to take the door off ... Which door though, kitchen or fridge (two doors)? Fridge then. Because a) they don't matter any more, and b) we won't have to put them back on - genius, eh? First door comes off without a problem, so can leave husband to it and get on with my blog, which is way overdue. 3 screws and we're done. Second door also only 3 screws, so no problem ... I continue blogging happily. An hour, many interesting words and some dozen spanners later, several large hammer blows sound from utility and door cedes. I stop blogging and go to the aid of husband, now huffing and puffing and in a muck sweat. Realise have to sever a pipe. Realise that this will cause a leak. Realise we will have to put plastic bags under fridge outside to catch any drips. Realise must move fridge back to get at plastic bags. Mutter, mutter, mutter (more words not suitable for family blog). Finally succeed in parking fridge, doors and all, on landing.

So that's why I'm up at the crack blogging. In an uncharacteristic bout of houseproud spring-cleaning, I have determined that all shall be pristine to make the new fridge feel at home. Thus here I am, having stripped and rinsed the Amtico, waiting for the utility floor to dry, so I can add floor dressing. And then go and have my bath. And then start my day, already knackered. Grrrrr ......

too busy to blog ...

Between visits to and from grandchildren and assorted family, I have been knitting apace, hence no time to blog.

Which means that I now have three beautiful things to show. The first is my Princess Shawl. I have finished the first of four borders:

This is a detail of a feather:

And here is the sprouting seed motif:

No. 2 On top of that, I have been working busily on the beautiful Diagonal Kimono:

The pattern is from from Jamieson's Shetland Knitting Book 1, using their lovely shetland double knit. It is interesting to knit, because it starts with two triangles, which are then knit together, mitring the middle and increasing the edges until it is gradually decreased from both sides to make a rectangle out of two matching pieces of diagonal knitting.

My final beautiful thing is the Big Retro man's sweater I am knitting for No. 1 Son. The pattern is out of the Men's Knits supplement from the January 2009 edition of Knitting magazine, using 4 mm needles and Sublime Extra Fine Merino Wool DK. My son chose the colour, Mocha, which is a pale-ish brown. I think he's got really good taste, but then, I would say that, wouldn't I! ;) The yarn knits up in an interesting fashion, because it has a twist in it, which makes the right-hand side of the stitches look somewhat like a rope, while the left-hand side forms a simple line. I'm still trying to work out why!? ;)

I'm off again tomorrow, so probably no blog until next week, but I'll be taking some of my knitting, and seeing the lovely Ellie, so I'm happy bunny! ;)

I can want apple ...

Very busy this weekend entertaining my young grandson Luke and his parents. At 2 years 2 months he is really getting into his verbal stride. Two weeks ago most of his language consisted of one and two-word utterances, not all of which were intelligible. Now he can do sentences, as, when in the bath wanting to finish his fruit, he said 'I can want apple!' Which I think beautifully sums up his feelings:

Some time earlier, his cousin Ellie, a little older and also on a visit, was not to be outdone when she showed off her beautiful new hat:

My son-in-law Andy, Luke's dad, cooked us a sumptuous Valentine's Day meal of scallops on pureed cauliflower, followed by Beef Wellington (the beef fillet supplied by his local farm shop - delicious) and then panna cotta. How nice to have a son-in-law who is an excellent chef!

As a third beautiful thing I offer a poor thing, but mine own. The hat I designed and knit from some left-over yarn (i.e., stash - yay!!) for Ellie's Pooh bear. Well, he seems to like it, and Ellie is very pleased. Who else matters? ;)

I should perhaps point out that the excellent trousers were knit by Ellie's Danish grandmother, who is called Beste. Now as this is short for Bestemor, which could be translated as 'best mother', I think that is a very fine word indeed for grandmother! ;))))

still away ... so just three beautiful things ...

I am staying with daughter Imogen and granddaughter Ellie still, but can blog on the Mac there.  I must say I do like the Mac.  Its lovely clean lines, and the keyboard's so comfortable.  It doesn't have a nasty plastic feel about it, and the keys feel really responsive.  Mmm, maybe next time a Mac???

So today I am going to do three beautiful things, and the first one is my daughter's Mac.

The second one is my lovely granddaughter, although I can't show you a picture today, but she is really chatty now and we have wonderful conversations about why the snowman has melted, and we haven't!

Third beautiful thing, although again no picture, but I have finished the second page of my Princess border on the first side and am therefore effectively on the home run!  Pictures later in the week.

Rugby comes first!

No time to blog today, because I shall be knitting furiously while I watch the England:Italy 6 Nations match, with everything crossed! ;) (now that should be interesting, knitting with fingers crossed - I know sometimes they get that way when attempting something complex, but actually to knit that way, hmm - will report back later! ;))

They have never lost yet to Italy in a 6 Nations match, but the way they played in the autumn internationals ... still I live in hope of a good start to this year's competition.

More tomorrow.

PS.: the snow has cleared from here, but the forecast's a bit iffey still. I must say, I rather like the snow. It brings a hushed beauty to even the most ugly urban sprawl. Also it serves us humans with a well-timed reminder that we are not completely in control. I know that's a point of view that's likely to make me unpopular, but there you go! :)

'Swing low, sweet chariots ...'

still not just the Princess ..

I finally overcame my reluctance to block the Cap Shawl, so here it is:


I realised that my tardiness was born of my puzzlement as to how to block it, because it has 9 segments. In the end I just got down on hands and knees with the pins and did it by eye. I really love how the patterns have turned out. Here the centre, which turns out like star points:

Here a close up of the lovely six-pointed stars that arise within the star points:

Finally the leaf pattern that fills in the segments between the star points, which I absolutely love:

The shawl came out at about 67" diameter, slightly smaller than the original in Jane Sowerby's book, but that's because I deliberately used a smaller needle. I love everything about this shawl, but especially the wonderful merino lace weight yarn in emerald from Heirloom Knitting.

not just the Princess ...

Although the Princess is demanding most of my attention at the moment - as a Princess should, of course, sometimes I do other knitting. Lately I have completed another little scarf for my mother, with the remaining ball of yarn she acquired for the extravagant sum of 0.69 pence!

She required something not too long, nor wide. This blocked to 14 by 40 inches. I wanted it be fairly easy, with few joins, so I kind of adapted the Orenburg shawl idea, by starting with knitting the bottom border. I made up a very simple pattern and knit an appropriate number of points, including some to turn the corner:



Then I picked up the stitches I needed for the centre, keeping the border going at either side. For the centre I took the Fishtail Pattern (Kalasabakiri) from Nancy Bush's wonderful book, Knitted Lace of Estonia:



Finally I knitted the top border, knitting in one stitch from the centre with every second row, and grafted the two ends of the border, giving this as the result:



Now I wait for the final verdict from its recipient, my sternest critic, my mother! ;) (I confess the final corner is a little wonky, but I plead running out of yarn!)

BTW.: please don't think for one moment I put myself in the same class as either the Orenburg knitters, or Nancy Bush. But I sit at their feet and learn.

My cap shawl is blocking as I write - watch this space tomorrow.

Barbisnow

Now I know that there are people out there who often have snow. Real, heavy, long-lasting snow. Six months of the year type snow. Feet deep drifting snow. Still, this much snow in London really does seem worth mentioning. Never mind the moans and groans about insufficient gritting, buses not running, etc. I give you - The View from my Window in the heart of the City of London:



Pretty, isn't it? Even the dolphins seem impressed by their snow 'caps' and their frozen pond:



The bare tree branches take on a new beauty against the stark concrete outlines of the tower blocks, which are themselves edged with white icing:


Someone has built a pussy cat snowman, complete with twig tail, photographed here with Peter in his winter anorak, hoping I won't make him pose for too long in the still falling snow:

Daughter Kathy tells me grandson Luke, two years old, was unimpressed and preferred to return indoors to Thomas the tank engine. Imogen's daughter Ellie, two years seven months, however, was keen to play out for a little longer, until she decided it was altogether too cold. And my son Jos in Killarney was mocking us with bright sunshine! What a pity there's never much when I visit them.

But hey, the snow's great, I love it. Everything to its season! ;))

busy doing nothing ...

Spent the day running on slow, trying to catch up on my rest and laundry! The joy of idling in bed finishing my book - Parky, Michael Parkinson's autobiography. What a wonderful life he has had, what wonderful people he has met. Plus he comes from Yorkshire, so he's a good bloke anyway!

Today is Kathy's (my second daughter) birthday - Happy Birthday, Kathy!! I am always staggered to look back on the birthday of one of my children - much more than my own - and realise how far they, and I, have come since they were born. I recall the long and often difficult years I struggled to give them all a decent life and education. Now it's over to them, while I enjoy my place in the sun. Sometimes I still feel uncomfortable about the fact I am not tearing myself out of bed at silly o'clock to get children off to school and myself to work. Then I tell myself I've earned the right to relax, and take out my book or my knitting!

The upbringing I received implanted a permanent fear of idleness, of not doing enough, of not being useful. If I came home with full marks for a French test, I was admonished for 'not getting any marks for good handwriting', even though such were not available. Unqualified praise was deemed to risk spoiling a child, by making her big-headed. If you did well, it was taken as read. If you did badly, woe betide. Only now am I beginning to clear away all that corrosive fear, and give myself some credit for my achievements, not least of which, for me in any event, is my four beautiful children and their children. And they themselves have helped me in that, through their love. So once again, Happy Birthday, Kathy.

all good things ...

... come to an end! So now all grandchildren and parents have gone home, and I am left with as much time as I like to myself - so of course, I don't like! Human beings are so contrary, aren't they?

But I've had a great time, even if I am totally exhausted. Yesterday I was round the galleries with Finn's Irish grandfather, Dermot. He's an artist of no small talent, and came over with Jos and Lisa and Finn to see what's on show. Walking down New Bond Street, we were passing Sotheby's auction house. They were advertising viewing for their forthcoming sale of Impressionist paintings, and Dermot had the genial idea of going in for a look. Now I have been down New Bond Street past Sotheby's more times than I care to remember, and I would never have thought of going in.

But in we go, and first off the doorman is from Cahirceveen, so he and Dermot get to chatting like long lost brothers. Then we go round the viewing, and it's fantastic. Lots of unusual paintings, not the usual suspects at all. Bonnards that aren't 'Nude bathing', and Renoirs that aren't blowsy women. Plus lots of wonderful paintings from both well and lesser known Impressionists.

So the moral is? Sometimes it takes someone else to come along and shake one out of one's rut, make one do something different, to make the day. Thanks, Dermot. :)

'My Princess'

Well, here at long last: more progress on my Princess Shawl. She's obviously not looking her best, because she's not blocked. But in my eyes, she's beautiful - still I'm not being boastful, it's just that Sharon's design is so fantastic. I find knitting the border somehow much easier than the edging - how weird is that??
Sadly, the really zinging colour (Gossamer CashSilk - Viola) doesn't show up to well in my lousy photos, but believe me, it's gorgeous. The yarn is a little unforgiving, because the silk in it makes it quite slippy - so dropping stitches is a nightmare, but tinking is easy - swings and roundabouts, eh what?! ;)

Princess Shawl: detail (unblocked):


Princess Shawl so far, edging and border (unblocked):

This weekend I am looking forward to a positive grandchildren-fest!! I shall be looking after Ellie while her parents are moving house, but I shall also see baby Finn, because his family is coming over so that Dad Jos can help with the move. And to cap it all, I am taking Ellie to visit Luke and family on Sunday. I am so-o-o-o-o excited! Until then, knitting and reading.

In fact, I have finished reading The Tale of Genji. It was a big read, and has taken for ever!!! and I'm generally a quick reader. But it really takes a lot of getting to grips with, so I sent for The Tale of Genji: A Reader's Guide, by William J. Puette to help me understand it. In fact, I am so taken with it, and yet so unsure of what I have read, that I think I'm going to order the E.G. Seidensticker translation to help me get to grips with it!! How's that for dedication?

Finally, if my Princess is my first beautiful thing, my second is my grandkids, and my third is The Tale of Genji, where do I put President Obama?

Well, I'm old enough to remember Kennedy's inauguration, and the massive swell of hope that it brought with it. I was still at school then, and it inspired me and my generation (the oft-maligned sixties baby-boomers) with a new and fresh idealism that outlived his early death, as well as those of his brother Robert and of Martin Luther King. And I can honestly say, this is the first time since the dashing of all those hopes by the dismal seventies and the cynical eighties, that I feel the stirring of real promise for a better future. So I say to those in the United States of America, well done! Hopefully we in the UK will soon be given the chance to make the same choice. I and many like me, including my children, who have hitherto been disaffected from politics, maybe because of the withering of OUR sixties dreams, look forward to a new era when the President of the United States sets the tone for world leaders in looking for real solutions to the problems of inequality both within and beyond our western democracies. All hail to the chief ....

Not much to report today, except that my mum is very pleased with her scarf, so has ordered another with the second ball, so now I am looking for another allover pattern, for variety.

My Princess is coming on quite well now, so I shall take pictures soon, when I feel there's enough to make it worthwhile showing it.

In the meantime, I persevere with The Tale of Genji. It does get easier as I go along, although it is still difficult, keeping track of all the characters. But I am enjoying it, in a strange way, when I can overcome my irritation at the place of women in that society. How much we women in western democracies have to be grateful, in spite of all their imperfections!

My special joy right now is the knowledge that in a week's time I shall see Ellie [second granddaughter, two and a half] and Finn [second grandson, 6 months]! :))))) [and their parents too, of course ;)]

beautiful, beautiful boy ...

Spent some time with my middle daughter and took a picture of my darling grandson Luke in the new Chinese silk pyjamas I brought back for him from Singapore. I know I have a grandmotherly bias, but he is a beautiful boy!

Have still no pictures of the cap shawl, because I haven't had time to block it yet. However, I do have a good excuse, sorry, reason. My mother acquired some white fluffy yarn, Sirdar Blur with kid mohair, very cheaply in a sale and asked me to make her a little scarf. The yarn arrived on Saturday, and I finished today, so here it is, a small thing, but mine own:

In addition I am reading The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, a Japanese gentlewoman, writing in the 10th Century. Although interesting, it is not an easy read, not least because it is quite difficult to keep a handle on all the characters. But I persevere because it intrigues me, and gives such insight into its time and personae, i.e., ninth century Japanese aristocracy.